High School Boys Lacrosse: New Rules For “Checks Involving The Head/Neck” And “Illegal Body-Checks To A Defenseless Player” Increase Penalty To “Two- Or Three-Minute Non Releasable”

In Rule 5-4 – Checks Involving the Head/Neck – the penalty for a violation was strengthened by dropping the possibility of a one-minute penalty. Thus, a minimum two- or three-minute non releasable penalty will now be enforced for this violation. Summers said this increased penalty will reinforce the need to eliminate hits to the head/neck from the game.

In another change designed to minimize risk, the committee added a fifth example of an illegal body-check. Rule 5-3-5 will state that an illegal body-check is one that targets a player in a defenseless position. This includes but is not limited to:

Body-checking a player from his “blind side”;

Body-checking a player who has his head down in an attempt to play a loose ball; and

Body-checking a player whose head is turned away to receive a pass, even if that player turns toward the contact immediately before the body-check. A minimum of a two- or three-minute non releasable penalty is assessed for this violation.

“Intentional player-to-player collisions with players in a defenseless position are a concern, and this revision will reinforce the need to eliminate these collisions from the game,” Summers said.